Articles for November 2016

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?

Ezekiel 18:31-32

Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

There is something special about prayer – it offers an opportunity to repent

Luke 13:1

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Ezekiel 33:11

Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?

TO INVOKE THE NAME THAT PROTECTS US.

John 17:11-15

I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.

WE ARE PROTECTED BY HIS NAME – APPROPRIATED THROUGH PRAYER

DEATH HAS STRATEGIES TO GET MORE

Hosea 13:14

“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;

I will redeem them from death.

Where, O death, are your plagues?

Where, O grave, is your destruction?

“I will have no compassion,

Death is an enemy! It is a spirit being. It is a personality of evil. It is not silent. It is the ultimate enemy to be defeated

1 Corinthians 15:26

The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

TO ERADICATE DEADLY PRESUMPTION.

Many people just presume that because it has never happened to them it will never happen

No basis

No Faith

Just presumption

We are to walk by Faith not by presumption.

Just like people who drive recklessly because nothing has ever happened they presume they are immune!

Psalms 33:16-20

No king is saved by the size of his army;

no warrior escapes by his great strength.

A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;

despite all its great strength it cannot save.

But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,

on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,

to deliver them from death

and keep them alive in famine.

We wait in hope for the Lord;

he is our help and our shield.

REVELERS ARE TARGETED BY THE spirit of death

Isaiah 5:14

Therefore Death expands its jaws,

opening wide its mouth;

into it will descend their nobles and masses

with all their brawlers and revelers.

TO ANNUL THE COVENANTS OF DEATH.

Isaiah 28:15

Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol (the place of the dead) we have an agreement—when the overflowing scourge passes through, it will not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter.

Isaiah 28:18

And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol (the place of the dead) shall not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through, then you will be trodden down by it.

APPEASEMENT OF DEMONS BRINGS TROUBLE

DEATH AND DESTRUCTION are spirit personalities that feed on those who die – they never gets enough –

Proverbs 27:20

Death and Destruction are never satisfied and neither are human eyes.

WE ARE PART OF THE LIFE TEAM SENT AHEAD TO PRESERVE LIFE.

Genesis 45:7

But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

It was not the lives of his family only although they would benefit – GOD loves people HE DIED FOR THEM

TO ADVANCE GOD’S GOOD PURPOSE

There is a good reason why you are still alive – good enough to attach yourself to the preserving purposes of GOD through Prayer

Did GOD say? The devil cast aspersions on GOD’S Word AND CHARACTER So, Eve and Adam acted out a fatal unbelief

Genesis 3:1

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Genesis 3:4-5

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

THE SPIES SPOKE DOUBT, CONTRARY TO THE PROMISE OF GOD…

…and a whole nation was DELAYED by 40 years

Numbers 13:32

And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.

…a whole generation was WASTED

Numbers 14:20-23

The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it.

While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

Revelation 2:14

Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.

1 Corinthians 10:8

We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.

Can you believe it!

From this scripture it is abundantly clear that Balaam did not only attempt to curse Israel but he gave Balaak a “fail proof” way to weaken Israel from within and dislocated them from the protective arm of GOD that thrives on righteousness.

Every sexual snare shall not find you

Every seductive trap shall be exposed and undone

2.1. SOLOMON – the many wives that led his heart away!

2 Chronicles 8:11

Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the Lord has entered are holy.”

1 Kings 11:1-2

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.

2.2. SOLOMON BACKSLID

1 Kings 11:4-6

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God,as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely, as David his father had done.

2.3. SOLOMON LOST FAVOR.

1 Kings 11:9

The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

2.4. AND YET, AS A KING HE SULERY MUST HAVE KNOWN BETTER.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

The enemy shall not cause you to forget

Who you are

What you represent

What you carry

DISRUPTIONS – ACCIDENTS.

Nehemiah 4:8

They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.

Every plot to stir trouble against you shall fail!

Psalms 140:5-8

The arrogant have hidden a snare for me;

they have spread out the cords of their net

and have set TRAPS for me ALONG MY PATH.

I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”

Hear, Lord, my cry for mercy.

Sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer,

you shield my head in the day of battle.

Do not grant the wicked their desires, Lord;

DO NOT LET THEIR PLANS SUCCEED.

DISCREDITING PLOTS.

Nehemiah 6:13

He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.

Every plan to discredit you will fail in Jesus Name!

FOR PROTECTION:

PRAY THESE PROMISES.

Psalms 1:6

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Psalms 121:7-8

The Lord will keep you from all harm—

he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

PRAY THAT THE SAINTS WOULD BE SENSITIVE TO GOD’S LEADING.

Isaiah 30:21

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”

REBUKE THE FEAR / PANIC TRAP

Psalms 23:4

Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

EVERY PART OUR WAY IS COVERED

Isaiah 43:2-3

When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you;

and when you pass through the rivers,

they will not sweep over you.

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not set you ablaze.

For I am the Lord your God,

Philippians 1:28

without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God.

EVERY TRIP SHALL BE COVERED WITH JOY.

Isaiah 55:12

For ye shall go out with joy,

and be led forth with peace:

the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

e.g. Joseph could have died and his father lived a long time thinking the animals were responsible for the attack.

Genesis 37:19-20

“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams…”

Genesis 37:31-34

Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”

Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.

Attacks are not all just human error and or technical failure. Hidden behind fine sounding arguments such as,” O well, it’s festive season, there’s more people on the roads so incidents are bound to happen.”

The army of wickedness enjoys such and conveniently hides while unleashing all sorts of hideous and horrendous malice hell forces can throw up.

ALLOW WISDOM TO RULE AND GUIDE.

Proverbs 1:20-26

Out in the open wisdom calls aloud,

she raises her voice in the public square;

on top of the wall she cries out,

at the city gate she makes her speech:

“How long will you who are simple love your simple ways?

How long will mockers delight in mockery

and fools hate knowledge?

Repent at my rebuke!

Then I will pour out my thoughts to you,

I will make known to you my teachings.

But since you refuse to listen when I call

and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand,

since you disregard all my advice

and do not accept my rebuke,

I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you;

I will mock when calamity overtakes you—

Have you noticed how people can brag about wrong and foolish things.

And glamorize wickedness

Such as how drunk they were

How they narrowly escaped accidents as they sped aimlessly

Wisdom calls us to pay attention to issues such as:

When tired rest

Check tire pressure

Service your car

Avoid bad friends and evil influences even if they are family

(The enemy uses those close / dear to you to tempt into

AWAKEN TO GOD CONSCIOUSNESS.

Psalms 23:4

Even though I walk

through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

We were not promised that dangers would cease. But GOD consciousness in the “valley of death” defeats the debilitating effects of fear.

APPRECIATE THE DAILY PROTECTION.

Ingratitude proceeds deception

Romans 1:21-25

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

Hebrews 3:13

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.

LETS SEE EZRA THE PRAYER CONVENER

Ezra 7:6

This Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted him everything he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

HE CAME UP FROM BABYLON

Rise up from where you are.

HE WAS WELL VERSED

Know the things that give you an edge.

TOUCH GOD RELEVANT PEOPLE WILL RESPOND

HE WAS A DEVOTED MAN

Ezra 7:10

For Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.

HE GAINED CREDIBILITY:

5.1. THROUGH HIS EXPERTISE IN THE LAW

Ezra 7:11-15

This is a copy of the letter King Artaxerxes had given to Ezra the priest, a teacher of the Law, a man learned in matters concerning the commands and decrees of the Lord for Israel:

Artaxerxes, king of kings,

To Ezra the priest, teacher of the Law of the God of heaven:

Greetings.

Now I decree that any of the Israelites in my kingdom, including priests and Levites, who volunteer to go to Jerusalem with you, may go. You are sent by the king and his seven advisers to inquire about Judah and Jerusalem with regard to the Law of your God, which is in your hand.

Moreover, you are to take with you the silver and gold that the king and his advisers have freely given to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,

5.2. THROUGH HIS PROVEN WISDOM

Ezra 7:25

And you, Ezra, in accordance with the wisdom of your God, which you possess, appoint magistrates and judges to administer justice to all the people of Trans-Euphrates—all who know the laws of your God. And you are to teach any who do not know them.

5.3. THROUGH HEARTFELT PRAYERS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE

Ezra 10:1

While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly.

Ezra 10:6

Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he was there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he continued to mourn over the unfaithfulness of the exiles.